Waiting for an answer.

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

When the sunrise from the horizon, I was already awake and I looked at my mate who was asleep beside me on the bed in our bedroom. We spent the whole night just being together and I thought about what I was going to do now that the night had ended. James looked so serene and peaceful in his sleep like he was going to wake up with his old goofy lovable smile on his face and not just the face he puts on for the sake of living another day.

I felt the bed jostle and looked at him. He was already awake and he sat up and looked at me with a small smile playing on his lips. “I’m guessing you’ve already decided what to do?” he asked, his smile fading by the second.

“No. I don’t know anything anymore, James. I have forgiven you for everything, James, and I have but I can’t forget them all. You’re my mate but I don’t know if I can stand it anymore.” I told him, truthfully.

He nodded and held my hand, stroking it with his thumb. “I understand...”

Truth be told, I had already made my decision and now I have to tell him. “I think we need to spend some time apart,” I said to him, looking into his eyes. His smile instantly disappeared and his hold tightened again. “Just for a year or until I can figure things out between us. You need time to sort your thoughts and get a grip on things or possibly get some closure over their death and I need time to think about what our future is going to be.”

James looked at me and then back at our intertwined hands. “I love you, you know that right?” he asked.

“I do.”

He nodded and then leaned in and kissed me again before pulling away. A smile played on his lips and we stared into each other’s eyes. “Do you remember the night when my parents died? Do you remember what I said to you?” he asked, smiling sadly.

“Of course I do. You told me that you love me and you would give me anything and everything that my heart desired that would make me happy, even if it meant giving me the moon and the stars in the sky.”

He pressed me tighter against his body and caressed my cheek. “And then I got that phone call. I never told you this but that night, I wasn’t finished. I was going to propose to you,” He looked into my eyes. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. He wanted me to marry him?! “I love you so much, Katie. I would do everything and anything to have you by my side, always. So now, I’m asking you... will you marry me?”

Stunned, I stayed completely still before I answered him. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I kissed him deeply before I pulled away. “No,” I whispered. “I love you, James. I do but no. Ask me next time.”

He shook his head and held me tightly as if I was going to disappear and I was. “I don’t want a next time. Say ‘yes’, Katie. Just say ‘yes’.”

I shook my head and kissed him again but I pulled away and stood up. “Ask me again, next time.” was all I said before I walked away. I used my werewolf speed to pack and grab a taxi and I left him, my mate feeling devastated, hurt and sad. I cried all the way to the airport where I hid my scent and disappeared.

Two years later...

Two years ago, I left my mate to think about things and I disappeared from his life. I went to live in Italy but I kept contact with my parents to check on James from time to time. James knew I kept in contact with them and he pestered them to tell him where I was but they never told him, as per my instructions.

After my departure, my mom called me telling me that James had gone berserk trying to find me but he calmed down after a few weeks and started to drink a lot. He came to the pack house early in the mornings, drunk and depressed. He kept saying my name and kept on apologizing when he was drunk. It was hard for him but his friends and my friends and my parents got him sober and just as I thought he was going to start getting his act together, his friends called me, secretly, that he started to drown himself in work. They couldn’t do anything to help him so they kept asking me to come back but I didn’t. I asked my mom to write a letter for me; I passed what words I had to say and she wrote them and gave them to James. He begged her to tell me to come back and tell him where I was and it broke her heart as it did mine.

It was then that I knew that by contacting James in any ways even if it’s not directly was not going to help him so I only talked to my parents and his friends and mine but I never passed any messages to him knowing he’d never get better that way.

After a few months, his best friend, Don, told me that one day, James actually came out of his room and changed. He took his Alpha business seriously but he didn’t drown himself in his work, he stopped drinking so much and toned it down to a drink a day and he stopped going out to meet human girls. He cut off his ties with those girls and stopped asking his friends to convince me to come back and only asked how I was doing and to tell me that he missed me.

After a year, he began to laugh and smile like he used to and hung out with his friends and spend time with them. He became a great Alpha and he was my James again. After another year passed, it was already two years and it was slowly approaching three years now. I didn’t go back to the old pack and my parents kept telling me to come home. It was already passed the amount of time I promised him and I decided not to come back... not yet.

So on the day of the anniversary I left, I asked Jane to tell him: “I’m waiting.”

I’m waiting, James. Will you answer?

James’ POV

“She’s waiting, that’s all she told me to tell you.” Jane said to me, smiling.

I was confused. “That’s all she said?” I asked. “What does that mean?”

Jane sighed and smacked my arm. “Go figure it out, James.” I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked at the framed picture of Katie on my table. Jane sighed and sat down in front of me. She smiled approvingly at me. “You know, James, I’ve seen you grow up in these past two years. You were messed up in the beginning but then I saw the old you and then I saw you become a great man—an Alpha. Katie would be proud of you.”

I looked at her and nodded and stared back at the picture of Katie. “I hope she is proud of me. I want her to come home and find a better person. I want her by my side and this time, I want her happy.”Jane placed a comforting hand on mine and squeezed it lightly.

“It’s been two years, Jane. Do you think she still loves me? Does she forgive me yet?” I asked her quietly.

“She already forgave you the minute you said you were sorry and you know she loves you as much as she did the day you met.” Jane assured.

I sighed and took the picture of Katie in my hands. “It makes me worry that she doesn’t want to come back home.”

In my head, I could still picture the sight of her crying and the miserable look on her face and it broke my heart. There hasn’t been a day that went by that I don’t think about her or don’t picture her coming through the front door. “Well, if you want her back, why don’t you go get her or something?” Jane asked.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, even more confused.

“Katie has been waiting for you for so long and from what I’ve seen, she’s  waited for you for three years and plus these two years...she has waited for you for five years. What makes you think she stopped waiting? She’s waiting for you to get her.”

She’s right. I have to find my mate. I have to go get her. Using my werewolf speed, I immediately ran to her parent’s house and knocked on the door feverishly. Her mom answered the door. “I have to find Katie, Liz! She’s waiting for me,” I said, panting. I had to find her, no matter the cost. “Please, I want her to come home.”

Liz, Katie’s mom, smiled at me. “What took you so long? She’s in Italy. I’m not allowed to tell you more than that. You’ll find her, James.” she said, handing me two tickets to and fro Italy. I smiled, knowing that she was already waiting for me and now, I needed to go.

I’m coming, Katie. You only have to wait for a few more moments...